Emergency doctors have raised urgent concerns over a looming winter crisis that is already putting patients at risk in overstretched A&E departments across the UK.
According to a survey by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), 94% of emergency medics believe patients are being harmed due to the current conditions in A&E.
The snapshot survey of 83 doctors found that 87% lack confidence their departments can cope during the winter months, and 41% feel less prepared than they were at this time last year.
A majority (83%) of respondents reported patients being treated in corridors, often stranded for hours on trolleys or chairs. Over half (51%) said they had witnessed patients waiting outside emergency departments in ambulances, highlighting the severe strain on resources.
Dr Adrian Boyle, RCEM President, described the situation as a dire warning from the frontline.
“Clinicians are worried and patients are unsafe. Winter is coming, and it looks like we are facing a massive crisis in every part of the UK. We cannot just ignore winter and our patients,” he said.
Boyle criticised the government’s approach, arguing that simply asking NHS staff to work harder without providing additional funding would not alleviate the crisis.
He called for increased bed capacity and better social care support to ease pressure on hospitals this winter.
“The government may have written off winter, but we haven’t,” Boyle added. “We will keep highlighting the harm, what should be done to eradicate it, and holding them accountable for the unacceptable risks our patients face.”
An NHS England spokesperson acknowledged the challenges ahead but said efforts were underway to prepare, including flu, Covid, and respiratory syncytial virus vaccination programmes.
“This winter is likely to be another challenging one, which is why we have asked all parts of the NHS to work together to ensure that the safety and dignity of all patients is the number one priority,” they said.
The scale of the challenge is evident from October 2024 data, which revealed that 162,931 patients in England waited over 12 hours in major emergency departments—a rise of 33,919 from September.
This marks the third-highest monthly figure since records began in 2010. October also saw 2.36 million A&E attendances, a 6% increase from the previous busiest October.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “This government inherited a broken NHS where an annual winter crisis had become the norm. It will take time to turn things around, but our action to quickly end the junior doctors’ strike means for the first time in three years NHS leaders are planning for winter rather than preparing for strikes.”
The department highlighted the chancellor’s recent announcement of nearly £26bn in additional NHS funding over the next two years and reiterated its commitment to building a future-proof NHS through a 10-year health plan.
As the winter months approach, the stark warnings from frontline staff and record-breaking A&E attendance figures underline the urgent need for action to address the mounting pressures on the NHS.
